A BIRKDALE man faces Christmas in jail for driving while drunk and smashing into other cars.

George Wagg was sentenced to 70 days after being caught by police officers twice within two weeks.

The 47-year-old Upper Aughton Road resident was almost four times over the limit when the second crash happened on Town Lane, Kew, on Sunday.

He was still on police bail from the first incident, which happened on October 22 on St Luke's Road.

Prosecutor Andrew Page said in the first instance Wagg was found asleep behind the wheel of a blue BMW 5 series, minutes after colliding with a green minibus near the junction with Sussex Road.

After knocking on the window to wake him, a police officer said he seemed dazed and confused and smelled of alcohol. At the police station he recorded a reading of 96mg, almost three times the limit.

Wagg also admitted having no valid licence or insurance, having failed to reapply for his licence after being banned in 1994.

Less than a fortnight later, Wagg was found to be almost four times the limit at 2.30 in the afternoon, when he collided with another vehicle at the junction of Folkstone Road and Town Lane.

This time driving a Hyundai, he left the scene before police arrived after being urged several times to “just go” by his female passenger.

The car was then spotted driving slowly and erratically on Meols Cop Road by motorist Andrew Sumner, who followed Wagg while his passenger rang police.

They followed a circuitous route to Brooke Close, Wagg hitting the kerb as he struggled to avoid parked cars and causing a taxi to swerve violently and mount the kerb.

Police then attended Brooke Close and found both he and the passenger in the car, near where young children were playing.

Wagg had to be helped from the car and was slurring as he said: “I'm sorry, I admit it, there's only so many times I can say sorry.”

At the police station, 90 minutes after the crash, his lowest breathalyser reading was 120mg (the limit is 80). The next morning he said he could not remember the collision.

Defence solicitor James Burke said Wagg, who works nights at Tesco, was not normally a heavy drinker but was struggling to cope with the demands of his partner's bipolar disorder.

On both occasions he drove after she repeatedly demanded he go out to buy cigarettes.

He told magistrates: “The lack of thinking skills he demonstrated in dealing with these situations, while his judgement was further clouded by alcohol, could be addressed by the Drink Impaired Drivers programme.”

Bench chairman David Dixon said: “We accept you have some difficulties with your partner but that cannot begin to excuse what you have done – knowingly offending while on bail for a similar offence; nearing four times the limit within a matter of days, at a time when children were around; and leaving the scene of an accident, which I'm surprised you weren't charged with.”

Sentencing him the next day to 20 and 50 days served consecutively, chairman Ray Roukin said: “The court views the offender as someone who blatantly disregards the drink driving laws, and has a duty to protect the public.”